Disguise

Earplugs

Flora's POV

The funeral was a peaceful one. Everyone was quiet. April stayed behind to watch over a sleeping Xena while the rest of us came out here, two miles east of the resort to a grave that had been dug carefully. Hank had taken the time to find flowers around the forest and lay them all around, on the ground.

Werewolves weren't put in wooden boxes. They were left as it is, earth touching the body to allow them to connect with nature. It was brutal; they didn't cover her up, and they didn't change anything about her. Brianna was lowered into the ground and everyone poured some mud over her. With their strength, the dug grave would be filled again within fifteen minutes. The forest was cold but not windy, and there was barely any light from the moon that got through the leaves, but I could see everything crystal clear. I knew it was my werewolf abilities coming to the forefront, taking over my body.

For the first time in a very long time, I didn't feel like talking. I didn't feel like saying something to make everyone feel better. The grieving was important. I knew that and so did everyone else. They were regal creatures, the werewolves. They honored their own but there was a simplicity to it. No words were exchanged but plenty was being said by their eyes, by their body language, by their rituals. I felt like an outsider, not being able to wallow in their guilt or empathy, all I could offer was pity. I knew what they had lost, and I knew how it weighed them down. But I also knew that it was important to let them feel. They had to deal with this on their own and there wasn't much that would help in this case.

So, I watched them, everyone's head cast down as they quietly filled the cuboidal space with the earth. No tools were allowed, I was told. Everything had to be done by hand, and hand alone. I could only imagine Hank out here, when he first dug the whole thing out by hand and paw. He seemed like a ghost of himself, this had hit him the hardest, and understandably so. She was their childhood friend, most of theirs' but circumstances had changed a lot of things.

I thought back to the day when I had met her. Reece, Grey and Dani had always described her as a happy-go lucky girl. I had been so excited to meet her, but things had turned sour pretty quickly when she saw the way Reece looked at me. I wondered now, if things were different, would we have become good friends? I could imagine it; the happy, extroverted personality adopting me, the introvert as her close friend and confidant.

I tuned in to the other's thoughts, Reece had told me that during the entire funeral no one would utter a word – that was the tradition. Unsurprisingly, everyone was playing back memories of a little Brianna. I watched their thoughts in fascination, their minds weaving together to piece the entire movie of her life. This was how wolves honored their dead.

The first one was Sienna's. It was a very hazy memory; she was still a child and was trying to get Reece and Hank's attention as they played games in the middle of a grassy patch somewhere. Sienna was watching Bri looking at the boys, lugging around a football, like she longed to join them. The scene changed and it was now Dani's mind. She was walking along a corridor, maybe from her school when she saw the four of them in front of her. Her eyes immediately went to Grey and they both had the biggest smiles on their faces. From the corner of her sight, she could see Bri rolling her eyes but smiling, "Well, there go your days of being a player, Grey." She told him, but his smile only widened...

The next was Reece's. They were sitting together looking over some papers as they worked, when she suddenly gave him a huge smile. "I wonder if we will get to see our mates soon." She told him, turning one of the papers in her hand. It was a birthday party invitation for her sweet sixteen. "I'm sure mine will be amazing." Reece replied, his face already beaming with pride and excitement...

Then...it was Hank's. It went back to when they were children. He was crying and she put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Hank, you will find her, and everything will be perfect." "What if I don't?" "Well, till you don't you have all of us – your friends and me! We will never let you feel alone." Her smiley face blurred once again...